


i'll be here

by antoniohiggins



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: 9/11 subtle mention, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Everyone Needs A Hug, Heavy Angst, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Songfic, This Is Sad, also with some tumblr anon prompts, and the major character death isn't graphic or anything, based on the song 'i'll be here' from the musical ordinary days, just warning you it's v sad, mostly race, ok so ralbert is the current couple but the fic is about sprace, there's a lot happening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 05:42:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14182098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antoniohiggins/pseuds/antoniohiggins
Summary: a sprace to eventual ralbert songfic based on the song 'i'll be here' by lisa bresica from the musical ordinary days**this is very sad, references major character death (non-explicitly), depression, ptsd, 9/11 (non-explicitly), and just really sad stuff so be careful about reading this. i would recommend listening to the song before you read unless you want to be surprised by the ending**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8G9k18T9oc (here's the song)enjoy!!





	i'll be here

**Author's Note:**

> this is probably really bad, but whatever i don't edit my writing for anything other than spelling so hopefully this isn't as bad as i thought it was when i read it over lmao
> 
> i've never written a songfic before so this is super awkward but oh well
> 
> enjoy

It had been two weeks since he asked. Two weeks since Race had run and never went back because he couldn’t let himself admit that he had moved on. It had been two weeks and he was ready to admit that he missed Albert. He had lost too many good things in his life to lose another by his own selfish choice.

So he caught a cab downtown to a street corner he hadn’t seen in over a year and sat right on the curb. He wrapped his coat tightly around his body, tucked his knees to his chest and gave one last ‘I love you’ out into the wind.

He called Albert to meet him downtown and within fifteen minutes he was there, flustered and afraid as he stepped out of the cab.

“Albie, I’m so sorry,” Race rambled as soon as they were alone. “You’re amazing and I never should’ve let you go for a second.”  
  
The budding tears in his eyes threatened to fall as Albert simply pulled him into his chest and held him tight.

“I need to tell you why I couldn’t do it,” he mumbled into the other boy’s shoulder. “You deserve an explanation.”

Albert just held tighter and pressed a kiss to the side of his head.

“Take your time, Racer. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”

Yet, he took a deep breath, held the other tight, and bared his soul.

“We met, of all places, right here in front of Gristedes,” he started, his voice shaky as he continued. “It was some freakishly cold winters day. I had on several unflattering layers of wool and he slipped on the ice with his grocery bags full. So I rescued some Fruit Loops he dropped by the curb, and he made some remark that my smile was absurd. I thought he was sweet and I started to go when he said ‘Hey, whatcha doing tomorrow? Because I'll be here at the corner of Bleaker and Mercer tomorrow at 7. If you want to meet up, I'll be waiting right here, and in case there are two fellas waiting for you, my name's Sean’.”

Race curled himself into Albert even tighter before pulling back and walking slowly to sit on the windowsill of the building they were awkwardly loitering in front of, but had made Race so happy once upon a time. He stared out at the exact spot on the snowy sidewalk and it was just like he was back where everything first started.

 _“_ He waved and then he was gone. Needless to say, I went back there to meet him the next day, mostly just to see if he'd show, and there he was out in the cold with his jacket pulled tight,” Race smiled softly at the memory, brushing the freshly-fallen tears from his cheeks. “He took me to dinner and he kissed me goodnight.”

Albert quickly sat down beside him, wrapping an arm around the boy’s shoulders as he guided him to lean into his shoulder.

“The next week we went to this terrible play, and the week after that we went to a fair and drank hot chocolate all day. Before I knew it, eight or nine months had flown by when he took me back here to this spot and said, ‘Hey, whatcha doing the rest of your life? Because I'll be here

Right beside you as long as you want me to be, there's no question. There is nothing I've wanted so much in my life, and I know this might sound immature but I'm totally sure you're the one."

Race’s voice cracked at the end, a small sob escaping his lips as his small form shook slightly.

“And that was just the beginning.We got hitched in September, it was our favorite month, and we had a rock band that played in this old synagogue just outside of the city. We bought an apartment on West 17th street and after a few months, we started talking about children and maybe getting a dog. Just like everything else, our first anniversary came in a flash. We had both promised to take the day off, but he had to stop by his office that morning, so I went walking uptown to this bakery I know.”

The horrible sound that broke his speech was enough to make Albert sick to his stomach. He gently maneuvered their bodies to be as close as possible, reaching one of his hands to gently run his fingers through Race’s snow-covered hair.

“That’s when I heard on the street what I thought was a joke until I noticed the sirens and saw all the smoke,” he choked, tears pouring down his face as he kept his eyes trained on that one spot on the snowy sidewalk. “So started running back home with this feeling of dread. The only thing there was the voicemail he left…with the last words he said.”

Race quickly shifted his stature, sitting more upright as he brushed the tears from his face.

“I’m sorry, Albie, I don't mean to ruin your evening by bringing up all of this stuff. You're probably wondering why I even called you tonight, well, today something happened that really…fucked me up again. I saw this…storm cloud of papers fall down from the sky, and I thought of that day, and I started to cry. And then…as sure as I breathe I heard Sean clear as day saying, ‘Hey, you're allowed to move on. It's okay, because I'll be here even if you decide to get rid of my favorite sweater. Even if you go out on my birthday this year, instead of staying at home letting all of life's moments pass by. You don't have to cry’.”

Race stood, walked back over to that spot on the sidewalk and sat down in the snow, running it through his fingers as he spoke.

“‘Because I'll be here when you start going back to the places we went to together. When you take off my ring and you let yourself smile and you meet some handsome and patient and true’,” he whispered softly, not moving his eyes off of the other boy. “And he says that he wants to be married to you. When you call him one night and he meets you downtown, and you finally answer him, _yes_."

Albert’s eyes went wide as he rushed to the other’s side. He slid into the snow, kneeling in front of his boyfriend as he pulled Race’s freezing cold hands from the snow, wrapping them up in his own.

“I’m sorry I made you wait so long, but _yes_ , Albert. I will marry you. I will give you my heart. It has taken so long, but I'm ready to start,” he chuckled with a watery smile, leaning together. “Right now Sean’s whispering ‘congrats' in my ear ‘cause I finally let myself tell you…that I will be here.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to everyone who read this! i've been working on this for such a long time and this song means so much to me so i really hope you all enjoyed this fic
> 
> i actually did a cover of this song on my tumblr @tony-higgins, for anyone that's interested, and if there are any other songfic requests anyone has, feel free to message me there or comment here and i will add them to my to-do list!
> 
> like always, every comment/kudos is extremely appreciated so thank you all in advance and i'll see y'all soon for another one-shot that's currently in the works;)


End file.
